2013 Primary election results

Good morning! I hope you all are happy waking up in a City that soundly rejected Christine Quinn last night. She came in with 15% of the vote. Bye-bye, Bloomberg lite!

The likely winner without a runoff is Bill DeBlasio. As of last night, he had 40.2% of the vote, with Bill Thompson coming in at 26%. Whether or not there is a runoff, however, let me point out once again that the political careers of Christine Quinn, John Liu and Anthony Weiner are DONE.

Scott Stringer bested Eliot Spitzer in the Comptroller's race and Letitia James and Daniel Squadron will go head to head in a runoff for Public Advocate.

Locally, Melinda Katz soundly defeated Peter Vallone, Jr. and even with the 9% or so of the vote that Tony Avella allegedly took away from Vallone, he still would not have beaten her. So much for Italian power.

In district 19, The latest numbers are Paul Vallone 2,723 votes to Austin Shafran's 2,579 votes with 98% of precincts reporting. Neither Huffington Post nor NY1 has called it for Vallone, although he claimed victory. So, in November, it MAY be Vallone and Republican Dennis Saffran. Will Saffran win because most Dems picked anybody but Vallone? Time will tell. (Apologies for previous mistake. Shafran got WFP endorsement, but NOT their line. He is challenging the election results.)

In the 22nd CD, Costa Constantinides handily beat John Ciafone.

In the 24th CD, Rory Lancman creamed Andrea Veras.

In the 27th CD, it's still a race between Daneek Miller (3,756) and Clyde Vanel (3,360) with 98% reporting.

In the 28th CD, Ruben Wills beat Hettie Powell.

In the 31st CD, Donovan Richards beat Michael Duncan.

And in the 32nd CD, Lew Simon beat William Ruiz.

Also, thankfully, in the 34th CD, which covers mostly Bushwick but half of Ridgewood, Antonio Reynoso sent Vito Lopez packing once and for all.

Sadly, because we are a one-party town run by a political machine, there were no primaries in the 20th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 29th or 30th districts and all incumbents ran unopposed.

In kind of a surprise, in Brooklyn, 23-year incumbent DA Charles Hynes was defeated by challenger Kenneth Thompson.

UPDATE:

Tony Nunziato and Phil Ragusa were also reelected as GOP state committeemen.

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Candidates want to be anybody but Bloomberg

From the NY Times:

Michael R. Bloomberg is a data-loving, health-enforcing nonpartisan who defined what it meant to be a mayor over the past 12 years, mentoring big-city chief executives from New Orleans to Philadelphia.

But closer to home, the major candidates vying to succeed him at City Hall in New York are not pleading for his pointers, or pressing for a place in his photo ops: none of them, Democrat or Republican, have even asked for his political blessing in the primaries next week.

They instead describe polls showing that Mr. Bloomberg’s endorsement, once deemed a coveted prize, would now dampen their appeal to the party faithful, not burnish it, and they fret over lashing themselves to his divisive policies on policing, not to mention his soured relationship with municipal unions.

It is a humbling and alien experience for the relatively popular mogul turned mayor, who is unpracticed in humility: in the race to lead a post-Bloomberg New York City, there is profound wariness of being viewed as, well, too much like Mr. Bloomberg.

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Lots of outside money in council and mayoral races

From the NY Times:

With little more than a week to go before the Democratic primary for New York mayor, outside groups have poured $3 million into supporting and opposing their preferred candidates, according to the most current figures through Sunday.

The effect of those expenditures is being closely watched, because this is the first citywide election in which outside groups, like corporations and unions, have had an opportunity to spend unlimited amounts on campaigns in the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case.

And with the majority of candidates abiding by tight spending caps in exchange for participating in the city’s matching-fund program, any significant outside financing, especially for political ads and mailings, could make a difference.

In the race for mayor, for instance, all the major Democratic contenders are participating in the program, which allows the campaigns to spend $6.7 million in the primary.

So far, William C. Thompson Jr., a former city comptroller, has benefited from $1.55 million in outside money, making him the biggest beneficiary, by far, of such support, according to detailed records cataloged by the city’s Campaign Finance Board. Much of the money has been spent on palm cards, radio commercials and mailers, thanks to a group affiliated with the United Federation of Teachers, which has endorsed Mr. Thompson.

New York City is Not for Sale, a group of animal-rights activists and others who are vehemently opposed to the candidacy of Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, have spent $774,000. They were the first outside groups to spend money on a television commercial criticizing a candidate, and many political analysts say their relentless campaign has hurt Ms. Quinn.

Ms. Quinn, in fact, is the only mayoral candidate who has been the target of outside spending.

Some of that opposition, however, may have been blunted by $657,000 from outside groups that support Ms. Quinn. Of that amount, about $610,000 has been spent on English and Spanish-language materials by a group connected with the Hotel Trades Council, which has endorsed Ms. Quinn.

Locally, we have this:

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $7,755 since 8/5 opposing Chrissy Vosckerichian @electchrissy #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $21,003 since 8/5 opposing Austin Shafran @Austin4Council #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $16,238 since 8/5 opposing Paul Graziano @PaulGraziano19 #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $105,885 since 8/5 supporting Paul Vallone@PaulVallone #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $5,251 on 8/31 opposing John Ciafone #DailyFiling - http://t.co/icfNwiAo21

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 2, 2013

Jobs for New York, Inc.: independent expenditures of $24,999 since 8/5 supporting Costa Constantinides @VoteCosta #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

Planned Parenthood of NYC Political Cmte: ind expenditures of $3,895 since 8/5 supporting Melinda Katz @MelindaKatz #FilingDay

— NYC Campaign Finance (@NYCCFB) September 1, 2013

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How does the Machine screw over Willets Point? Let us count the ways...

From Willets Point United:

The City Council, when we last checked, purports to be a deliberative body, but when you get really close to examine how it really functions you come to understand that it is deliberately obtuse when it comes to the interests of small businesses, and communities impacted by mega-development. Take the ULURP application for the slyly named Willets West-a project that emerged like Rosemary’s Baby from the failure of the original Willets Point development that passed under a false flag in 2008. If what we have seen so far is any indication, the council is preparing to roll over because of an inordinate obsequiousness to the interests of Joe Crowley and the Queens County Democrats.

In the first case, the initial hearing is scheduled for September the 3rd, the first business day after the Labor Day holiday. Acting like folks who want to remain inaccessible and perhaps even incognito, the notice for the hearing was posted on Thursday the 29th, leaving a single day before the holiday for the word to get out.

When it comes to the hearing itself, the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises is signaling that it really doesn’t want to have a vigorous debate on a project that remains promiscuously controversial considering the illegal lobbying that drove the original council approval five years ago. It is doing so first by shutting down the request from Willets Point United to present a 20 minute power point that deconstructs the numerous erroneous assumptions from EDC - an entity that was forced to reconstruct itself after orchestrating the aforementioned illegal lobbying.

There’s really no excuse for doing this since WPU has been willing to forego the time of five or six of its testifiers so that the power point could be presented. The only conclusion an impartial observer can draw from this is that the committee is trying to tamp down the opposition’s ability to make its case. Will the committee limit the developers to 2 minutes? No, we don’t think so - and Chairman Weprin needs to explain why he needs to act as a homer for the developers.

In addition, the time being allotted to each speaker has been reduced to 2 minutes! - another example of favoritism since the developers, being the prototypical special interests, normally have fewer people coming to testify. Two minutes for some of the folks who stand to lose their businesses and their property if this corrupt deal is approved is the quintessential example of the stacked deck.

The committee is also showing its true colors by disrespecting the expected testimony of many of the Hispanic immigrant workers and business owners. No Spanish translator will be provided at this hearing – despite the ULURP application that is at issue requiring that 100+ businesses vacate the premises that are owned and operated predominantly by people who speak Spanish. The City previously failed to provide any Spanish translator at the eminent domain hearing which was widely criticized at the time. Apparently the City has not learned any lesson and is content to steamroll the 100+ immigrant businesses without hearing them at the Council. And why hasn't Julissa Ferreras, the home rule council member who has been working for years with the tenant businesses, demanded interpretation services for her constituents, or spoken out against the skulduggery being perpetrated by the City against Willets Point land and business owners?

The above points, taken all together, demonstrate the City Council's active contempt for public testimony about the proposed Willets West mall / Willets Point Phase One ULURP application. Speaker Quinn, Land Use Committee Chair Leroy Comrie, and subcommittee Chair Mark Weprin should be ashamed of themselves. These latest examples of bias come a year after the Mayor's Office and NYCEDC selected Sterling Equities and Related Companies, and their plan to expand the development from 62 to 108.9 acres including constructing a shopping mall on parkland, in a private process that shut out the Queens-based Willets Point Advisory Committee from the developer selection process, contrary to multiple written promises. The fix appears to be in; let the Council now show us - and all New Yorkers - otherwise.

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Quinn not forgiven for extending term limits

From the Daily News:

In an office near New York City Hall, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn convened a secret meeting of key Council members to discuss a poll she had quietly commissioned.

It asked voters whether they would support revising the city’s term-limits law in a popular vote. The results — for those in the room — were not good: the issue was a nonstarter.

Quinn “did everything she could to let us down easy,” someone who was there recalled this week. “With the poll, she was letting us know it would be impossible.”

That meeting was held in 2006. Yet two years later, Quinn would lead the council in joining with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to repeal term limits — through legislation, rather than a citywide vote.

And today, the results of that poll seem prescient.

Once the overwhelming frontrunner, Quinn nears the Sept. 10 Democratic primary for mayor struggling to reach the expected runoff. And no issue seems more responsible for hurting her candidacy than her decision to help Bloomberg win a third term.

It comes up nearly every day.

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The dirty deal that made Christine Quinn speaker

From WNYC:

At its core, the details of the deal-making that December day involved key Council jobs and committee assignments. In turn, the Council shaped in these negotiations became a critical conduit for the big redevelopment projects that the bosses and their corporate allies wanted.

Back in 2002, Rivera had positioned his 21-year-old son, Joel, to be the majority leader of the Council when Gifford Miller became speaker with the support of the Bronx and Queens. Quinn kept Rivera in the post, which came with a $23,000-a-year bonus over the base council member’s salary, and also named him chair of the Health Committee, a post she had held herself for four years. Quinn appointed Baez to head State and Federal Legislation, a gain for the Bronx delegation. Rivera had elected his daughter Naomi to an Assembly seat in 2004, and Quinn, who’d given $1,000 to Naomi’s campaign, put her husband, Antonio Rodriguez, in a $109,000 graphic designer job at the Council. Rivera also won the power to name the next city clerk, a patronage plum with 86 jobs controlled by the speaker.

Crowley’s Queens team already had the Council’s top staff job: Chuck Meara – whose brother Brian is Crowley’s personal lobbyist – had been Miller’s chief of staff and kept the job under Quinn. But Queens also wanted the second most powerful job, first deputy, and it had a Crowley family candidate for it: Ramon Martinez, Crowley’s one time brother-in-law. Quinn knew Martinez from the ‘90s, when they worked briefly together in the Council before Martinez went on to work for Hillary Clinton and other New York elected officials.

Martinez and Crowley’s sister Maura had finalized their divorce in 2003. Now, in 2005, they were faced with the challenge of financing the college educations of three teenagers. In the family business of county party politics, Crowley’s family needs, like Rivera’s, rose to the top of the patronage agenda. The Queens negotiators made it clear that they wanted Martinez to get the job so he could “pay Crowley’s sister’s alimony” or “support Crowley’s sister,” a theme that all the sources at the meeting agree was conveyed in these general terms. Crowley declined to talk to WNYC for this story.

The denouement? When Quinn took over as speaker in January 2006, firing 61 staffers she branded as patronage employees, her top hire was Martinez, who remains her key aide, dwarfing the influence of the laid-back Meara. Martinez, who was then working in the Public Advocate’s office, got an instant $20,000 raise when he moved to the Council. His salary soared by $50,000 in two years, and he now makes $206,190 – some $94,295 more than the speaker herself.

And then there's this:

Roll the calendar forward to 2009. That’s when Queens leader Joe Crowley surfaced at the Council with a project of his own to champion. A member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Crowley rarely gets involved in Queens controversies. But he interjected himself into the debate over another Related Companies project: the $3 billion redevelopment of Willets Point.

The Bloomberg administration wanted to transform the scrapyards and light-industrial zone there – in the heart of Crowley’s congressional district near Citi Field—into a housing, hotel, mall and office colossus. But the project required condemnation by eminent domain of a raft of businesses - 150 of them Hispanic-owned. So when the rezoning of Willets Point came before the Council in November 2009, it was already shrouded in such controversy that 32 members, including a dozen from Queens, signed a letter opposing it. It fell to Quinn to get the Council to support the project.

It didn’t help appearances that the project was a bit of an ethical mess. Claire Shulman, the 83-year-old former Queens borough president, had set up a nonprofit local development corporation, Flushing Willets Point Corona LDC, to build grassroots support for the project. The LDC was underwritten by a $250,000 city grant and real estate interests, including Related’s co-developer on the project, Sterling Equities, the real estate arm of Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. But Shulman had failed to register the group as a lobbyist with the city clerk and was fined $52,000 for the omission. Then she registered it, and a storm ensued, since LDCs are barred by law from lobbying the Council. The Times quoted hersaying that “we lobbied the city for the city,” a statement that eventually resulted in a state attorney general’s finding that the LDC had “flouted the law” and a settlement that barred it from lobbying the Council. Quinn did not criticize the grandmotherly Shulman at the time - indeed, she shared stages with her, beaming about Willets Point – and remains silent on the lobbying gaffe.

Though the project’s opponents, led by local Councilman Hiram Monserrate, vowed they would not support the rezoning unless it was stripped of any use of eminent domain, they switched en masse when Bloomberg and Quinn added 800 more affordable housing units to the project. The day before the vote, in unscripted moments at a press conference, Bloomberg extolled Quinn’s efforts, saying repeatedly that “we would never have gotten this done” without her and Monserrate. Crowley held a pre-vote press conference at City Hall, pushed recalcitrant Council members, and delivered a speech backing Willets Point at a breakfast of the prestigious Association for a Better New York on the morning of the vote. He called himself “part of the leadership team” that won its passage.

Quinn told WNYC that she never talked directly to Crowley about Willets Point, indicating that she didn’t even know the Queens organization’s position on the project.

Now, a revised project is back before Quinn, slated to come to a Council vote in October. Critics note that it cuts the affordable housing units in half, and that the developers may not have to build any if they delay the housing project for a decade, which they are permitted to do under the deal. The emphasis now is on a huge mall, an echo of Related’s Gateway development in the Bronx.

Mayor Bloomberg, of course, is the granddaddy of the Yankees, Gateway and Willets Point deals. But as speaker, Quinn’s charter duty is to lead a Council that is the only check and balance to mayoral power. Years ago, the media began calling her "deputy mayor" Quinn, a tag earned by her frequent support of Bloomberg. But almost none of the coverage of her over the years has noted the inside track the Democratic leaders have had as well, shaping staff and policy.

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Christine Quinn: the education candidate

From the NY Post:

Christine Quinn’s mayoral campaign is encouraging her interns to skip the first days of school so they’ll be available for the critical get-out-the-vote drive before the Democratic primary, The Post has learned.

In an e-mail blast to all the campaign’s summer volunteers, Quinn staffer Ross Adair said he was “pretty sure” that teachers wouldn’t mind if their students miss class on primary day, Tuesday, Sept. 10, “or even Monday and Tuesday” — a reference to the day before the primary.

“Thinking about election day: ALL INTERNS WHO PARTICIPATE IN ELECTION DAY WILL RECEIVE BOTH A LETTER EXCUSING THEM FROM CLASS IN ADDITION TO A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION FROM THE CAMPAIGN AND CHRIS,” Adair wrote, adding the capital letters for emphasis.

He told the high school- and college-age workers that the rewards of working for Quinn would be paid back big-time when they move on to careers.

“If you want me to be real for a second, a letter coming from the next mayor of New York City saying that you helped her on election day is something you can definitely put on your resume or application, and I’m pretty sure your teacher will be ok with you missing Tuesday, or even Monday and Tuesday,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, 2 recent polls have her in 3rd place, not even qualifying for a primary. Let's hope this lasts until primary day.

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Matching funds in non-competitive races

From Crains:

It's an aspect of the city's campaign finance program that has been attacked by editorial boards, and been used as an argument by Albany Republicans as to why the city's taxpayer matching funds program shouldn't go statewide. The city's campaign finance system is intended to level the playing field for candidates by matching small-dollar contributions with taxpayer money. But often, entrenched incumbents running against minimal opposition can get heavy payouts in public dollars.

In order to get the taxpayer matching funds, a campaign needs to have at least one opponent on the ballot. Under a change in the city charter approved by the voters in 2010, getting on the ballot has become easier, because the number of valid signatures required in various races has been halved.

Candidates have the option of turning down the money. In 2009, for instance, Council Speaker Christine Quinn turned down matching funds in her council reelection campaign, even as her two opponents took them. Ms. Quinn won re-election, and is now running for mayor.

On the other hand, in 2009 Brooklyn Councilman Lew Fidler got more than $88,000 in matching funds for a general election against a poorly funded Republican, and was subsequently knocked by the Daily News editorial board for spending much of it. Mr. Fidler won a third term, although he later lost a state Senate race to a Republican in a larger Brooklyn district.

Meanwhile, some City Council incumbents who are expected to cruise to re-election did fill out forms seeking the maximum amount of taxpayer matching funds and stating they face viable challenges. The list includes Brooklyn Councilwoman Darlene Mealy and Manhattan Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez.

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Choose and lose

Been trying to come up with a good caption for this one other than "Four sourpusses and likable candidate."

Take a crack at it.

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Quinn funding illegal alien training

From the Daily News:

New York City plans to spend $18 million over the next two years to help immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children land legal jobs and get driver’s licenses.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn — flexing the power of her office in the midst of a tough election fight as she runs for mayor — will announce the effort Wednesday.

It’s geared toward helping more young New Yorkers qualify for President Barack Obama’s year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative, which lets undocumented immigrants who came the U.S. before age 16 and were younger than 31 on June 15, 2012, get driver’s licenses and Social Security cards.

As many as 79,000 New Yorkers meet the age and immigration requirements for the program, Quinn says, but as many as 16,000 of them could be disqualified because the strict program requires applicants to have graduated from high school, earned a GED or be currently working toward a diploma.

The $18 million from the City Council will fund adult education classes and GED programs for people who need help meeting the education requirements.

Why do we need to help adults? I thought they were supposed to be welcomed because they were here "doing the jobs Americans won't do?" Haven't we heard that they and their kids are all successful and contribute positively to the economy?

Wouldn't this money be better spent helping American kids instead of helping people who don't belong here compete with American kids?

What school or park is falling apart and could have used $18M?

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Quinn's asskissing presser features Queens councilmen

From the Politicker:

It was mostly smiles for Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn under the burning sun outside of City Hall this afternoon.

She accepted new endorsements from two council members from Brooklyn, Stephen Levin and Michael Nelson, as well as two from Queens, Mark Weprin and James Gennaro--all of whom spoke to her established record, which they contended distinguishes her from the other candidates running for office.

"Let me get right to it," Mr. Gennaro said. “Whatever you care about in New York City, whatever issue you care about in New York City, Chris Quinn has a record of accomplishment--a record of solid accomplishment in whatever issue you care about. Not a phrase, not a slogan, not a word picture. An actual record of leadership."

"Madam Speaker, I look forward in seven months to calling you Madam Mayor," Mr. Levin said to a beaming Speaker Quinn who graciously kissed him on the cheek afterwards. And so on for Mr. Weprin and Mr. Nelson.

The endorsements today were largely unsurprising. Mr. Gennaro, for instance, has been functioning as an informal attack dog for the Quinn campaign on a variety of issues. And Ms. Quinn was previously endorsed by the Queens County Democratic organization, and loyal members like Mr. Weprin were likely to follow suit. Nevertheless, it's a component of Ms. Quinn's larger strategy: steadily and slowly growing the list of colleagues backing her bid for Gracie Mansion.

Ms. Quinn, however, didn't strike exclusively positive notes this afternoon. Asked about former Gov. Eliot Spitzer nearly tearing up during an appearance on Morning Joe this morning (she appeared shortly after), Ms. Quinn said she hadn't seen a clip, but launched into a critique of both Mr. Spitzer and another scandal scarred pol, former Congressman Anthony Weiner, one of her main rivals in the mayor's race.

"I, as much as anybody else, believe in second chances. None of us are perfect. In every way, but particularly in elected life, you need to earn a second chance. So the question is what have Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer done to earn a second chance?" she said, echoing comments she made yesterday. "What have they done with their time since their fall from grace that would earn them this second choice--chance. I would say not very much."

Does anyone remember Miss Quinn calling for Weiner and Spitzer's resignations? I don't. Now they're dirt because one of them is running against her?

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Halloran's participatory budgeting projects will be funded

From the Queens Courier:

The district represented by indicted Councilmember Dan Halloran will receive funding for all seven participatory budget items and then some.

Nearly $3.2 million in capital and expense projects will be honored by the City Council, according to the legislative body’s Queens delegation.

“Northeast Queens is home to many of the borough’s great cultural institutions, not-for-profits and some of the best schools in the entire city,” said Councilmember Leroy Comrie, the deputy majority leader and chair of the delegation.

“I was pleased to have had the opportunity to work with my colleagues in the delegation to ensure residents can continue to thrive, and the funds we provided will make sure the quality of life in these community’s remains strong,” he added.

The Council stripped Halloran of his committee assignments and funding allocations in April when the lawmaker was charged in a conspiracy and bribery scheme.

Power to distribute his district’s funds fell to Speaker Christine Quinn’s office and the borough delegation, which said they would dole out money for 23 community projects. Those include all seven the district voted on during its second annual participatory budget process.

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Queen of tweeding

From the Daily News:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds from the just-passed city budget to nonprofit groups whose board members and executives have given money to her mayoral campaign.

The Daily News examined the two dozen organizations that received the biggest grants from Quinn and found that 14 had ties to contributors who gave or raised a total of more than $210,000 in support of Quinn’s candidacy.

The contributions came from directors and staffers of those nonprofits and their immediate families, according to campaign finance records.

The groups received more than $3.1 million in grants in the city budget passed last week from the so-called “speaker’s list” of more than $15 million for nonprofits that Quinn controls, plus member items for her own district. Each of the 24 groups got at least $175,000.

The Council’s member item system has been attacked by watchdogs who say it fuels the perception that pols are using taxpayer cash to curry political favor.

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Quinn funds private park with discretionary funds

From Sunnyside Post:

Friends of Sunnyside Gardens Park, the fundraising arm of the membership-based park, received $25,000 through Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Those funds were for items such as “installing playground equipment and other recreational equipment.” Since 2010, Friends of Sunnyside Gardens Park has received $142,600 in city funds, most of it through Quinn. Park membership is not always open to all those who can afford the modest fees, such as with a YMCA or other non-profit. Members have to live in a geographical location to join.

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Term limits and temper come back to bite Quinn in the ass

From the NY Times:

In the Bayside section of Queens, a volunteer had barely begun her sales pitch for Christine C. Quinn’s mayoral campaign when the middle-aged man who answered the door cut her off. “She was the one responsible, in the City Council, for giving Bloomberg a third term,” he barked. “I hold that against her.”

The volunteer calmly countered that it was New Yorkers, not Ms. Quinn, who “voted the mayor back in.”

In Astoria, Queens, a woman in her 30s told another Quinn volunteer that the candidate’s sometimes brash personality had rubbed her the wrong way.

The volunteer gamely explained that Ms. Quinn’s flashes of temper “come from a place of love and passion.”

For all its financial might and political firepower, Ms. Quinn’s once high-flying bid for mayor has suddenly plummeted back to earth, shedding its coveted front-runner status and foreclosing the possibility of a painless path to City Hall. So with two months left in an increasingly unpredictable Democratic primary, she is dispatching a volunteer army unlike any in the race to every corner of New York City, determined not just to promote her campaign, but also to systematically ferret out and rebut voters’ reservations and resentments toward her.

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Quinn not being as bitchy as last year

From The Politicker:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has long been accused of using the Council’s budget as a tool to punish those who cross her and keep members in line. But, as member item allocations have come under increased scrutiny in light of the mayor’s race, Ms. Quinn appears to have changed course.

Sources familiar with the camps of three of Ms. Quinn’s most vocal critics in recent months told Politicker Tuesday that their member allocations–which fund local community non-profits, including senior centers and after-school programs–will either remain steady or tick up slightly, according to preliminary numbers shared with their offices this week.


Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who has repeatedly accused Ms. Quinn of slashing his funding back in 2011 after he vocally opposed her plan to re-name the Queensboro Bridge after former Mayor Ed Koch, said he was informed in a meeting with Council staff on Sunday that his funding would remain about the same as last year–marking the first time in three years, he said, that his total has not been cut.

Another frequent critic, City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who appeared on a CNN broadcast in March criticizing Ms. Quinn’s decision to slash her funding because of a mis-timed press release, as well as in a New York Times story on the subject, also appears to have been spared.

It was the same for Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who said Tuesday he was told his allocation would be the same as the last two years–despite his public threats to bypass Ms. Quinn and force two bills to vote.

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Weiner first in polling

From NBC:

Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has surged ahead of his opponents in a new NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal poll, transforming himself in just a few weeks from disgraced has-been to mayoral front-runner.

Weiner, who entered the race two years after resigning his congressional seat amid a sexting scandal, now leads City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in the crowded Democratic primary, setting up a new phase in what could end up being a remarkable political comeback.

Weiner leads Quinn 25 percent to 20 percent among registered Democrats, the poll by Marist found. That's a flip-flop from the last survey in May, when Quinn, the longtime front-runner, led Weiner 24 percent to 19 percent.

Just as telling is the number of registered New York voters who said they might vote for Weiner. Forty-nine percent said they’d consider it, up from 40 percent two months ago, before Weiner entered the race. Those who said they wouldn’t consider voting for him dropped from 52 percent to 45 percent.

The next closest contender in the Democratic primary is former Comptroller Bill Thompson, with 13 percent of registered Democrats saying they'd vote for him, up 2 percentage points from May. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio follows with 10 percent, who dropped 2 points. Then comes current Comptroller John Liu at 8 percent, Staten Island minister Erick Salgado at 2 percent and former City Councilman Sal Albanese at 1 percent.

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Sealed with a kiss

From the Politicker:

For one, it marked the end of an era, his last governing document over the finances of the city he’s run for the past 12 years. For the other, it marked the start of a new chapter, her chance to celebrate the early budget she hopes to inherit come January.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his wannabe successor, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, unveiled the duo’s final budget deal Sunday evening, surrounded by fellow council members in the grand rotunda of City Hall.

With a handshake and kiss on the cheek following lots of applause and accolades, the pair announced a $70 billion deal that restores threatened cuts to libraries and childcare, prevents fire house closures, and adds an extra $58 million to the New York City Housing Authority to help plug a $200 million budget hole caused by federal sequestration cuts.

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Park maintenance shouldn't rely on discretionary funding

Photo from Times Ledger

From the NY Times:

Of the 51 Council members, at least three — the Democrats Charles Barron of Brooklyn, Peter Koo of Queens and Annabel Palma of the Bronx — gave no money to parks in the past three fiscal years. Another three — the Democrats Gale A. Brewer of Manhattan, and Albert Vann and David G. Greenfield, both of Brooklyn — allocated $8 million to $9 million each over the same period.

The amount of money they have to disburse is determined, in part, by the speaker of the City Council, Christine C. Quinn, who is now running for mayor (and who has been a major supporter of parks). Some members may perceive more pressing demands, like affordable housing or public safety.

Some City Council members chafe at the requests to finance basic park infrastructure. “Why should we be paying for it?” said Mark Weprin, a Queens Democrat, who recently designated money for protective netting at a public golf course. “They come to us with a list of projects, and I always find that offensive. These are the basic needs of an area. It shouldn’t be up to the local councilman to fix up parks.”

Agreed.

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Too much info!

From the Daily News:

Is this the mayor’s race? Or the Oprah Winfrey show?

On Monday, Democrat Bill de Blasio shared intimate details of his life, releasing a campaign ad in which he revealed that his troubled childhood and father’s alcoholism led him to doubt that he’d ever have a committed relationship.

The disclosures followed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s revelations that as a young woman she suffered from alcoholism and an eating disorder.

Anthony Weiner has discussed the state of his marriage in interviews apologizing for the sexting scandal that forced him to resign from Congress two years ago.

The confessionals might seem like cries for help — but what the candidates really are seeking is love from voters, political analysts said Monday.

“No one knows them. This is how they introduce themselves to a disinterested public,” said Christina Greer, an assistant political science professor at Fordham University.

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